2. IFTTT

Check out the IFTTT app. IFTTT stands for If This, Then That. It is a way to automate tasks, especially with your email, Dropbox/Drive, and other applications.

You can choose from a huge list of rules they’ve already defined (they call them recipes) or create your own.

You can find it in the iOS or Android app stores.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

Get a notification for birthdays

Auto-save email attachments to your Google Drive or Dropbox

Auto-search Craigslist

Back up photos you’re tagged in on Facebook to an iOS photo album

Keep your iOS and Office 365 contacts in synch

Synch Gmail emails with receipts, orders and invoices to a Google spreadsheet

Track your daily Fitbit activity in a Google spreadsheet

And soooo many more.

NOTE: Zapier.com is another great automation tool. It’s a little more robust so check it out if you can’t find what you need on IFTTT.

Check out this list of 84+ Ways to Automate Life for more ideas on how to use IFTTT:

84+ HACKS TO AUTOMATE LIFE'S MUNDANE

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3. A To Do List App (like Toodledo)

We might have this in common…. I used to keep track of my action items everywhere – on random pieces of paper, on sticky notes, in the notes app on my phone, etc.

Then, I would feel disorganized (this happened almost every day) and I would waste 30 minutes trying to get my list arranged and feel focused enough to begin tackling things. I probably wasted 2+ hours a day on this organization and re-organization cycle.

Have you ever done that?

Now, I track EVERYTHING in my to do list. (I use Toodledo but use whatever you like best. The key is to find an app that has the option to set tasks as recurring).

Here are the ways I make this even faster and more consistent:

My fave app (and I’ve tried most of them) is Toodledo.(if you use another app, you can use all of these ideas below.)

I use the Toodledo app to enter quick items.

I use the Toodledo website to organize my week. So I look at all my action items in there on Sundays and make sure everything I need to accomplish that week has a date assigned.

I set up an IFTTT (see #2) that automatically creates a to-do in Toodledo when I star an email.

I put in everything including actions really far in the future (e.g. airline miles expire in 2019, don’t forget to double check the date was extended beforehand)

I capture all my repeated tasks, so I have a COMPLETE list each day of everything that needs to get done. For example:

Complete Mom One Line a Day journal (daily)

Pick up for cleaners (weekly)

Conduct family status meeting (weekly)

Workout (well….that should be daily but I’m slacking a bit at the moment)

4. A Habit Tracker (like Way of Life or Done)

Part of optimizing the day-to-day is building new habits.

After you identify the habits you need to implement, put them in a habit tracker. This will help you to visually see the ‘chain’ of consecutive days you’ve been able to accumulate.

Don’t you love seeing a bunch of checkmarks on your week? I do!

I like the Way of Life and Done apps for habit tracking.

You can track (and give yourself credit for) things like:

Hitting your water goal

Meditating

Journaling

Miracle Morning

Exercise

Following your eating protocol

Following a put-down-the-electronics plan

These are just a few examples….track the habits that match back to your goals.

5. Email Management

I think most of us spend a ton of time on email. Do you?

Here are 5 ways to streamline and reduce your time on email:

Reduce the amount of email you receive by using Unroll.me (of course if goes without saying….. do this for all the emails EXCEPT the emails I send 🙂

Set up automation rules to sort the emails into folders. You can do this by tagging the emails and then having a rule that moves them to a folder with the associated tag.

Set up automated follow-ups using the Boomerang extension to Gmail. This is really cool. It’s a way to automatically follow-up with someone if you haven’t heard back to your original email. Check it out!

Set up canned responses if you are commonly answering similar questions or inquiries. You can use Gmail canned responses or the TextExpander application for this.

Use the Chrome Extension called Drag to organize your Gmail inbox into lists. It’s similar to transforming your inbox into a collection of sticky notes. Really cool!